Letters
by get lost reality
Summary: Every night Mikan recaps her day's events with a letter to Grandpa. But as of lately, it seems centered around a particular person.


Disclaimer - This may come a shock to you but I don't own Gakuen Alice.

^ Letters ^

* * *

><p>"Hotaaaruuu", Mikan whined into her speaker as she crept along a desolate corridor in the boy's dormitory. Only the tiny screeching crickets were brave enough to keep her company at such a late hour.<p>

"Why can't I sneak in here during the day instead? I'm really scared!", she spoke heatedly into the speaker.

"Keep moving Mikan. I though you wanted my help to ace your math this time." , Hotaru's voice came out of the tiny receiver plugged into Mikan's ear.

"If you were really my best friend", Mikan sulked childishly, "You would tutor me without blackmailing me for a favor in return."

"Blackmail for a favor?", Hotaru's offended tone struck Mikan's ear drums, "That line from my so called best friend for whom I have faced the wrath of Jinno, wormed her way out of many detentions, let her sleep on my bed and listen to her constant complaining-"

"Ok Ok I'm sorry", Mikan said hastily, her guilty conscience catching up with reality, "I see the staircase to the second floor. Wish me luck."

"Good."

The day's story started somewhat like this- In an attempt to spite Hotaru Imai for all the mundane torture she had put him through, Ruka Nogi decided step his game up a notch. Not the smartest of ideas you'd expect from a three-star, but in his defense, he had just hit puberty.

So the little rascal decided to steal Hotaru's micro chip; a small piece of silicon that held the highest degree confidential secrets relating to Hotaru's nanotech business. When the initial brunt has subsided, Hotaru started her routinely successful business.

Revenge.

The most notorious and filthiest sensation produced by the eight generation Imai siblings.

The first step in her ingeniously composed plan was to reclaim her possession. At any cost. Even if that meant using Ruka's crush as a weapon against him. Could his pitiful puppy dog eyes look at her more desperately? Fortunately, Mikan had yet to brand his advances as 'flirting'.

Thank god for dim-witted people like Mikan.

So that is the heart-breaking story of how Mikan ended up scrambling hurriedly from corridor to corridor in the exclusive boy's dormitory. Being a 3-star, Ruka was given a luxury suite in the fifth floor along with the rest of the braincases who's managed to snag more than two stars from the teachers.

"Please God", Mikan prayed internally,"No more ghosts". After counting up to five, Mikan made an arduous dash to the staircase and clambered the stairs, victoriously evading the invisible ghosts, bloody vampires and laughing skeletons. Score one for Mikan!

"Now what?", Mikan asked her guide.

"Well, I've programmed the security robot's schedule to check in the first floor's room precisely at this time. This will give you a fifteen minute time limit to get that chip."

From her pocket Mikan produced a complicated black device with a lot of buttons on it. Mikan cautiously placed the device at the junction of the window and the frame and pressed the red button with the 'PUSH ME' sign written in capitals.

Wishing the window would open just like that was a gamble that Mikan had to take. It was known fact that Hotaru's devices seemed to malfunction at the exact time that Mikan was in mortal danger. At other times it would work just dandy.

Attracting bad luck was Mikan's known qualification in life. It was her 'thing'. Just like attracting money and fame was Hotaru's 'thing'.

Sadly, this irony in Mikan Sakura's life was well known throughout the Alice Academy, especially by Jinno who was kind enough to remind her every time she sought to escape from her infamous detentions.

And Mikan couldn't just knock on Hotaru's door and explain to her that her devices were dysfunctional only when she used them. 'Never question me' was the first sentence in Hotaru Imai's guide to world domination Part 1.

On cue per Mikan's destiny, the device emitted a high cyber sonic squeak that wouldn't have occurred had Hotaru been the one controlling it. Invention 2013 had officially joined the 'ruin Mikan Sakura's life and have a good laugh later club'. Typical.

The digi-device must have done its job cause a second later a small 'click' sound was heard and window opened itself. Mikan exhaled slowly. Gathering her courage, she pulled herself into the newly formed tiny opening in Ruka's room.

It was deathly dark, as expected of any one's room at eleven at night. Mikan shivered at the cold and the unexplainable knot juggling in her stomach. Flashing a torch light was too dangerous. She strapped her night vision goggles to her eyes but there were so much of other written stuff showing on the screen that it got her dizzy.

"Now what?", she asked her microphone speaker. No response came. 'Oh Great, the microphone is disconnected' Mikan thought glumly. Her one source of rescue had ditched her for a cyber break. Surprise surprise.

Her hands came in contact with two handles and a small keyhole situated right below them, the closet door. Ruka was bound to hide it in there. She tried her luck and opened the door.

To her immense amazement the door slid silently to reveal Ruka's cloth line collection stacked neatly in order. Four pairs of ironed school uniforms hung to her right. There was a medium sized mirror occupying the centre. Below it were two drawers that accommodated few animal treats, a bag of bird food and a comb. 'Not here' she muttered to herself.

She rummaged through Ruka's outdoor clothes and discarded them to the floor in blind haste. 'Where is it?' she looked around in the dark as if expecting a neon green sign to point her in the right direction. It wasn't in the wardrobe, wasn't under the bed, not under the carpet or even in the deep folds of his couch. She chewed her fingernails and scrunched her face in frustration.

Maybe she could think better if that stupid noise would stop.

Noise?

The door creaked open to reveal Ruka and another figure trailing behind him.

"Can't believe we came all the way back just because you left your pet food", his friend grumbled moodily. Ruka switched on the light and was baffled at the state of his room.

Mikan, hiding in his cupboard was at two ends. Hotaru had said that Ruka was bunking with his friend and that everything was GOING TO BE OKAY.

"Usagi must be still angry with me", Ruka sighed dejectedly, looking soberly at the mess, "I'll clear this stuff up tomorrow."

"Hm"

'Thank God' Mikan clasped her head in relief.

The place became dark again but it wasn't because the lights went out but because someone was blocking its path. Mikan's heart took a big dip, sweat drowned her skin and dress. Mustering every fibre of Sakura courage, Mikan opened her eyes.

A dark haired boy had his hands on the closet doors, on the verge of closing it. He stared at Mikan with an eyebrow raised and shot her a who-the-heck-are-you-you-disgusting-person expression.

"Oye Ruka", her called out, "What the heck is this?", he pointed at Mikan's crouched figure.

"Mikan?", Ruka asked in dumb shock and with the firm conviction that the world had gone mad, "What are you-"

Only she wasn't listening. It took a moment for Mikan to recognize that the mystery boy was none other than Natsume Hyuuga. Two months ago when she had newly joined the academy Hotaru had specifically pointed him out from the crowd and warned her to keep a minimum twenty feet distance from him.

He was the master of martial arts and the reigning leader of the karate club, Mikan had a good reason for being afraid of him. At eleven he was rumored to have successfully broken twenty tablets of marble, at thirteen they believed that Hyuuga had burned down a neighboring dojo in revenge for teasing his little sister's hair.

When he turned fourteen they gave him the nickname 'Kuro neko' when he was sent to perform mysterious missions for the academy. At that tense moment, Mikan believed every single rumor surrounding Natsume Hyuuga.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH", she screamed her lungs out. Ruka and Natsume's faces could be best described as those of two deers caught by a car's headlight. Sudden astonishment.

"She probably came to steal that chip", Natsume said suddenly.

"No way", Ruka insisted, "Mikan would never-"

Mikan's head was throbbing from fear and anxiety. Thoughtlessly picking the chip that Hyuuga had pointed at, Mikan bolted out through the door. With an incredible surge of power she performed a flawless jump from the corridor window to the ground below. A miraculous act indeed. A feat that only a fear- stricken Mikan could achieve.

Mikan wasn't the only one who was in a running mood. The maid robot that supervised the boy's dormitory was back for her routine checkup. Built up from metal scrap and composed of only electronic circuits, she wasn't capable of portraying any significant expression but her eyes visually recorded Mikan sprinting desperately across the lawn. Closely behind her were two of Junior High School's hottest boys.

One shirtless, and another with printed pajamas.

They ran speedily to grasp the little chip that had suddenly become famous overnight.

Tirelessly striving to save her life, Mikan managed to maintain her lead. The sight of the girl's dormitory gave her renewed hope .'Finally' her exhausted legs protested to move another step. 'They must have some kind of invisible barrier that shuns perverted boys from trespassing the girl's side, right?' she hoped desperately though she knew heart of hearts that no such alice barrier existed.

'Make them give up chasing me' Mikan willed her surroundings to offer her protection from the two ruthless karate fighters that targeted her. 'Something happen' she begged the God of mercy, quite out of breadth.

Time's wheels must have clogged cause something did happen. Right outside the Girl's Dormitory entrance stood a teacher, tall and proud, a distinctive displeasure marooning his face.

"Well well", Jinno said in a reprimanding tone, "Mikan Sakura. Back so soon?"

* * *

><p>Jinno entered the teacher's staff room and switched on the lights. Motioning Mikan, Ruka and Natsume to sit down, he picked a thick file from his table.<p>

"I could care less what you're intentions were", Jinno started sternly, "The Alice Academy has established rules that has governed children's activities for decades and a bunch of troublemakers such as yourselves just pop out at eleven thirty at night and break every single rule without even the slightest bit of remorse for your actions".

Jinno continued his chastise in a monotonous voice. Mikan was frantically explaining her side of the story but her guilty record spoke for itself. Jinno read out aloud her rule breaking streak from the file, reminding her of the pile of trouble she had landed herself in.

"We fell into this stupid girl's trap, "Natsume said grumpily in an undertone to Ruka, "Jinno must have been waiting there all along helping this girl's mundane plans to play the damsel in distress."

"Jinno helping Mikan?", Ruka looked incredulous that such a statement was ever said ,"Dude if I didn't know you any better I'd say you're paranoid. There is no way in a million years that Jinno would tolerate indiscipline from a student let alone help Mikan get away with breaking curfew." Ruka laughed inwardly at the imagery it presented, especially the Jinno-Mikan coalition.

"Why did you break into the boy's dormitory?", Jinno asked her gruffly.

Mikan hung her head lightly. Tears lightly rolled off her face. "I'm sorry sensei", she said hoarsely,"It won't happen again." 'Like I'd sell Hotaru to you.'

Jinno sighed wearily. "It's late. Go to bed and make sure you get to class on time. I will concede to no more tardiness. Detention at five tomorrow, same place."

"And you two", he continued authoritatively, "Top students not to mention. You both will join Miss Sakura at detention. Same time same place. No excuses."

"Yes Sir", they said in unison and left without another word.

"And put a shirt on", he added, glaring disapprovingly at Natsume.

Outside, Mikan was once again stranded without the safe confines of a grown up. Behind her were two martial artists glaring holes at her back. In front was the sports ground which she had to pass in order to once again reach the Girl's dorm. Sandwiched in between was the only Junior High student still stuck at one-star level. Her options were minimum. Mikan gulped.

By the time Mikan realized what was happening Ruka and Natsume had cornered her on to the wire mesh that fenced the boundaries of the track ground.

"Oh, So", Natsume said in a lowered voice, "Mikan Sakura likes barging into boy's rooms late night does she?"

"You wish"

Mikan could see the darkness spreading in his blood red eyes becoming more pronounced.

"To steal from my friend is like to steal from me", Mikan defiantly told him.

"And who told you that it is your friend's? You think Ruka has no other job than to steal little girl's teddy bears?"

"That chip is very important to Hotaru! She told me that half the information contains confidential files on the –"

"Enough", Natsume interrupted her firmly. "Apologize to us and maybe we won't hold it against you for putting us in detention."

Mikan was enraged. 'Stay away from him' the little Hotaru voice inside her head screamed but Mikan suppressed it forcibly. 'Who should apologize to who you ass? I braved the dangerous forces of evil and entered the boy's dorm at the dead of night to get back a precious chip that was wrongly stolen from my best friend. And you stand there and wait for_ me _to apologize to you. Curse you with the polka-dot stick that Grandpa carries every day.'

Instead came out as, "Shut it. You say sorry."

Natsume raised his eyebrow.

"Okay okay stop!", Ruka turned to Mikan and said in a light voice ,"Mikan-chan, Please give the chip back. I won't do anything with that it. I'll return it to Hotaru as soon as possible. I swear."

Mikan was suddenly very aware of the little metal nestled deep in her petticoat pocket. It seemed to burn a hole there. "I lost it while we were running. Sorry", Mikan lied, trying hard to act normal and innocent. Strange that at that precise moment you conveniently forget how you walk and talk every day.

Ruka sighed resignedly.

"Oh please", Natsume rolled his eyes.

Ruka muttered something incoherently under his breadth and sighed yet again.

"I believe you. Looks like I'll have to use Crow again."

When that was said Ruka dragged an unconvinced and disgruntled Natsume back to his dorm.

Mikan trudged slowly back to her own room. She closed the curtains and switched on the night lamp on her study desk. The chip that had caused so much mischief lay there, shinning notoriously in the dull lamp shade. Mikan withdrew a peach colored paper from her desk and started to write a letter to her beloved grandfather. Only then would dreamland embrace her.

(Dear Grandpa,

You wouldn't believe what a hectic day it has been. I managed to get on time to morning class this time. This is the third time this month and I'm proud of my record. A hat trick, can you believe that? On top of that I made friends with the new transfer student Nobara Ibaragi. She has the ice alice and is very friendly. She even laughed at my fluff-puff joke. I like her.

The trip to Central Town got canceled today and we had to go to our alice classes instead. I blame Jinno for this turn of events. There was a fare in the town's square as well. Damn! So I literally spent half the day in Special Ability class playing checkers and bluff. Three boys from class 3c asked Misaki out today. I think the red haired boy had already asked her out because I remember Tsubasa making a joke on how their hair colors' would make an ideal romantic couple. He was hospitalized for a week after that comment. I still don't know who was behind that though. Poor Tsubabsa!

But I still haven't told you the main event, have I? Remember in my last letter I told you how Ruka had stolen Hotaru's chip? I still can't believe Ruka would do such a terrible thing. So tonight I conquered my fears and sneaked into his room. For a boy his room was very clean. After hours of careful searching, I finally found it in his closet.

Exactly at that time Ruka and his friend, Natsume Hyuuga entered. They glared at me in the dark and chased me all the way from their dorm to mine.

"Die", they were shouting from behind. I ran, ran and ran. If it were a marathon, I would have won hands down. I begged the gods to save me. Finally, when I was within the reach of my dorm, who do you think was there to welcome me?

I know Grandpa, Jinno again. He said ,"Sakura, Always getting into trouble, I see. You are not fit for this prestigious Academy blah blah blah." And then Natsume Hyuuga, the evil boy Hotaru told me about, pinned all the blame on me and screamed 'idiot'. Jinno nodded in agreement. All the three smirked at me in conformation. It was so humiliating. How am I ever going to find a boyfriend now?

Jinno narrowed his eyes, "Detention", he sneered in joy, "For life". He had this wild look in his eyes. It was soo scary, Grandpa. Now I have to sacrifice an hour from my day to attend detention with Ruka and Natsume. Alone with them. For an hour. Where they can do anything to me.

Help me.

Dreading tomorrow,

Love,

Mikan)

* * *

><p>Hotaru made Mikan stare at the micro chip she had sold her life to steal. "This is a fake", Hotaru coldly told her. Only then did Mikan realize that the two boys had duped her.<p>

Thank you fate.

Five o'clock arrived not a minute late. Detention wasn't half as bad as what Mikan expected. Ruka simply stared nonchalantly out of the window. Natsume, seated way at back scowled darkly, his eyes shifting between Mikan and Jinno. Ruka rolled his eyes in amusement at his friend's firm conviction.

Akane pretended to keep an attentive face while Mikan ranted against Natsume Hyuuga. Akane had no idea who he was or why Mikan was so hell bent against him, but she sincerely hoped this wouldn't interfere with the help she had asked from her beloved senpai not long ago.

6-year old Akane gasped at the right places and exclaimed a 'Oh no' at the climax of Mikan's long whine story.

"He sounds like an awful person.", Akane supplied helpfully.

"He was shouting at me. Of course, he is an awful person."

The park was teeming with elementary and kindergarten students, unmindful of the setting sun. Youichi had ditched Mikan and Akane the moment Mikan opened her mouth.

Akane looked thoughtful. "But he seems like a guy who can fight well."

"So?"

Akane's inner mind smiled shrewdly. Yes! This was the moment she would manipulate for her own selfish needs. She knew Mikan was already in trouble because she had helped Hotaru, but in her defense she had already asked for Mikan's assistance way before Hotaru had. Technically Mikan couldn't back off now.

"Didn't you say you would help stop those middle schoolers from bullying me?"

Mikan gulped.

"You can ask this Natsume Hyuuga to help you, right?"

"Nee-chan?", Akane unleashed her most pitiful teary face. Mikan didn't stand a chance.

"Why don't we ask Hotaru instead? Won't that be better? Why should we-"

"NO", Akane screamed while crying. They were attracting attention now. Mikan tried to calm Akane down. 'Not Hotaru, not anyone else' Akane thought 'She is sure to ask questions like-'How did you get into trouble the first place?' or 'Why are they bullying you?'. Mikan was the only one who wouldn't ask such necessary questions. I can't let anyone else know about this.'

"But you would trust Hyuuga?", Mikan asked incredulously, "For God's sake, they say" ,Mikan lowered her voice, "He visits Satan on the weekends just to make sure he's doing his job properly."

Akane rolled her eyes.

"Please Mikan".

"Please."

"Free fluffpuffs for a week." The greed on Mikan's face was visible. Akane smirked.

Minutes later Mikan found herself standing in front of the Karate club.

Hyper agitated, tense and ready to piss in her pants any second.

Pushing the heavy doors she entered the academy's most feared place; an empty room. Breathing out in relief of postponing their meeting, Mikan waited patiently for Natsume to arrive.

'He's Ruka's friend. How bad can he really get?' she thought optimistically.

'He rapes babies for a living!'

'But then again maybe Koko wasn't the ideal source for information.' she decided.

"You!"

Mikan was overpowered by an anaphylactic shock when she looked at the source. Posing tall and poignant Natsume glowered at her shrewdly.

"Hey...Ummm Well I just-"

"What are you here for?" , Natsume asked snappily.

"I wanted..like to ask-"

"Make it fast.", Natsume said impatiently.

"Are you scared of people ten thousand times more powerful than you are?"

"No."

"Good. Then", Mikan clutched his shoulders and shook him hard, willing him to understand the severity of her reality, she cried ,"Help me fight! There is this kouhai of mine, Akane, who is being bullied by some god forsaken middle schooler for no fault on her part, let me tell you. Her brother, Gunno –"

Natsume gaped. She sure could talk .A lot.

"Shut Up."

The words were magic. Mikan stopped talking and began to breathe again.

"Why are you asking me for help? Don't have any boyfriends for that?"

"Huh?"

"And plus, first impressions matter to me. I have your character all mapped out. Not impressive at all."

"You're judging me based on my behavior that night?", Mikan asked, enraged, "How could you? I was helping my best friend. You know that."

"Then maybe you should ask your best friend and not me for help. Oh, I get it, you want to use me to defeat those bullies", Natsume countered coldly.

"NO!", Mikan was practically in tears, angered by his blatant accusation, "I came to learn martial arts.

"Ah, yes. Let's all learn martial arts in a day! Thank you for that, Barbie.", Natsume jeered, "Tell me more enlightening stuff."

"Why don't you tell me seeing as you have my _thoughts all mapped out?_", Mikan shouted.

"It's character, you dumbass."

"Urgh. Whatever. If you don't want to just say so! ", Backing the last word she stomped her way out in frustration, red faced and teary eyed. She tried to purposefully step on his foot but he moved his leg in forethought. Natsume narrowed his eyes at her retreat.

The club members who had arrived for their scheduled class were peering at the show from entrance doors. "Dude", one of them said , "Did Hyuuga just use the word barbie?"

Natsume glared.

'There is no forgiving him' Mikan thought furiously. She was just asking for his help, not for him to sacrifice his life for her something. There was no need to fly off the handle like that. He could have just said 'no' and left it at that.

Cutting her afternoon lessons Mikan made her way to her dorm and pitied herself to sleep. It was night when she woke up. Lying on the floor next to her door was the notes she hadn't been able to take in class that afternoon. A note on it read-

'What kept you, idiot?' in Hotaru's neat scrawl. On the other side it was written- 'P.S - Crow returned the microchip back. I give you permission to start talking to Ruka again.'

"Oh Hotaru", Mikan sighed aloud.

Moping, Mikan sat in her chair. There was only one medicine to drain her sorrows now; it was time to write another letter to Grandpa.

(Dear Grandpa,

I miss you, I really do. The academy is a strange place. Not everyone is as friendly as people from Nagoya. Especially Natsume Hyuuga. Everyone calls him Kuro Neko. Now I know why. It's because he has a huge tail growing between his big fat ass!

I'll admit that it was a little awkward of me to have asked his help, especially when we both started off on the wrong footing, but still. Akane is in trouble and I can't just stand back and let those bullies torment her so. She thinks I don't know about her elder brother and how she got caught in the mess between him and those damn awful junior high bullies.

I know she chose me because of my nullification alice. I am secretly pleased, though I would helped her out even without her asking. The least I could do for a Kouhai that worships the ground I walk on.

But I let her plead her case till she offered free fluffpuffs for a week. See how clever I am. Hehe.

Coming back to the point, I need to find some way to get stronger in a week. The challenge has already been issued and I'll need a miracle to save me now.

If only Hyuuga had agreed.

'I'm king of the world. You're not. Ha ha', he smirked. Hello? I'm a girl. I'm made to be a princess! And what else did he say? Ah yes, 'You don't learn martial arts in a day!'. But apparently you learn all about a person's _character_ in just a few minutes.

Screw.

Him.

Now that I think about it, I'll need another miracle to help me finish my math assignment. Yeah, it all comes back to Jinno, doesn't it.? Him, and his ugly, gay frog. Pft.

It's getting late Gramps, go to go.

Dreading tomorrow (as always),

Love,

Mikan)

Mikan opened the drawer to slip in her letter when she noticed a sliver emblem gleaming wildly on her desk. The karate club's symbol was minutely carved on it, the superior metal weighing heavy on her hands. Beside it rested a brand new set of uniform. Mikan grabbed the white material and unraveled it. Folded with the belt was a scrappy looking piece of paper on which the dried ink read - 'We don't go easy on girls. Be prepared'.

Nothing could prevent that slither of a smile stretching beyond Mikan's cheeks.

* * *

><p>"Why didn't you contact the Student's council?"<p>

"What's that?"

Natsume considered her words with a critical eye. Her naive exclamation should have triggered his anger vein but as he was practically in war with every cool and famous person at the academy, Natsume secretively appreciated her dumbness. The first of many.

Mikan had narrated Akane's encounter with the bullies (opinions and exaggerations included).

Natsume did not particularly like what he heard. There were six of them; five middle schoolers and their gang leader, a spunky brunette with a power alice. If Natsume had his facts right then her name was Yukiko Kiyoshi, an incredible latent alice who was detained from entering high school because of her infamous pranking.

There was only one way to control rouges in the Alice Academy, and that was through proving absolute superiority. Natsume knew this very well. If alices were used in a fight, it could be countered with an opposing alice, but if a person showed strength from within, then the enemy would have no option but to accept defeat. This was how the system had been, long before even Natsume set foot in the academy.

"How come I'm not joining the rest of the class? Why do I have to come at five in the morning?", Mikan complained groggily.

"This training is only for you to fight Kiyoshi. Further pursuit of this art is not open for discussion, "Natsume said methodically, "Rule one: Do no question me. You do as I say. Nothing more or less."

"Okay"

Natsume reflexively corrected her posture and stance.

"Let's see how you fight, no-cup"

"NATSUME!"

This unhealthy note commemorated the beginning of Mikan's monstrous and extremely excruciating journey to the land of fighting. Seven days of intense dedicated training, six principles dinned constantly, five must-know moves to be mastered to perfection, four times attempted quitting, random three-minute breaks, two hours of compulsory practice in the early mornings and late nights.

One master, one disciple, zero witness.

If Mikan thought getting to classes in time was a nightmare before, she now had other experiences to fill her horror extravaganzas.

If Jinno was unfair, Natsume was impossible.

'Bullshit', 'Crap' and 'Damn' was now frequently used as opposed to her previous chant of 'Huh?', 'fluffpuffs' and 'Hotaru!'.

If you're a badass lurking in the academy, then beware and proceed with caution; Mikan Sakura is in the prowl. Natsume was getting weary of her dreamland optimism. She was a slow learner by all means, exhausting her power in the first few punches. Of course, this was no issue at all. Karate always had a trick up its sleeve to teach such extreme cases that would pop up every generation.

What Mikan didn't know was how much of a boon her alice was. Even if her attacker failed to land a direct hit with his alice, his punch always contained a limited amount of alice energy that unknowingly resided, a power that Mikan could easily nullify. Natsume had bottled her so badly in the past week, that after one particular punch, Mikan had subconsciously used her alice on him and had the nerve to exclaim that his punches were coming weak.

This comment was never repeated again.

In the midst of this drama Akane decided to check on her beloved senior and to make sure she was getting the right kind of training. She banged the dojo doors for a grand entrance. She had not even moved an inch before-

Before she saw Natsume. He was standing with his back resting to the wall and was passively watching Mikan practice her kick moves. In Akane's first vision of Natsume, he looked like an angel with enchanting eyes. The change was instant. With a giggly, cute expression befitting a kindergartner, she tilted her head to the correct angle and one of her legs scrapping the floor lightly, Akane blushed and spoke directly to Natsume,"Mou...senpai..umm..those high school senpais bullied me so bad. You are the only one who can save me...SENPAI', she screamed and latched onto Natsume's leg.

Natsume was flabbergasted. "Shoo', he said, trying to shake Akane off his leg. But Akane was persistent. She tightened her grip on him and in a final attempt screamed - "I lov-" but her sentence was cut off by Mikan, who grabbed her and threw her out of the dojo, safely locking the doors as an added precaution.

Natsume's only response to this bizarre incident was Mikan's smile telling him she was going to continue with practice.

* * *

><p>(Dear Grandpa,<p>

I love you soo much. My hands are shaking so much that I wonder if I myself will be able to understand what I've written. Yesterday had been the most incredible day in my life. There is this huge smile stuck on my face and even remembering my most painful memories aren't able to get rid of it. I must be living a dream.

I'M STILL ALIVE. I guess I was simply too brilliant for those ugly seniors. My speed, my charisma, my power. Totally unmatched. (I just flipped my hair now, thought you'd wanna know.)

Love me.

Let me start at the beginning. Okay, so here I was standing in front of Misaki-sensei's greenhouse waiting for them to show up. I was all pumped and excited and just wanted to get on with bashing.

_Natsume promised he would hide at a safe distance to oversee her performance. Like a disaster management guy. To make sure the consequences didn't get too dire. Like death. Or something like that._

I told Natsume to hide at a distance so he could watch my super-awesome skills live. We were waiting and I was containing my coolness, biding my time.

The bullies came in an unclassy manner. I fought an urge to yawn.

_Kiyoshi sprang and encircled Mikan's neck with her arm. "No-star. I never knew the academy taught its students so much that they start revolting against their seniors", Kiyoshi said nastily, her breadth striking against Mikan's cheeks , "Growing a spine are we?"._

_"You sound like Natsume", Mikan spat venomously, trying to wrench Kiyoshi's hand from squeezing her neck._

_"What?"_

_"I said you sound like an old guy when you say such a cliché sidekick line."_

_Kiyoshi delivered a sharp knee-kick to Mikan's butt."Bitch!"_

Kiyoshi suddenly sprang and had her arm around my neck. Then she and her group had some silly fight. I didn't hear a single word of it so I can't say what that was all about. Anyway, I chose the perfect moment and busted the twins. They were begging for mercy. I said I'd consider it.

Soon enough Kiyoshi convinced her friends that I was their victim and that they should round up on me. I sprinted for some time wondering the best mode of action to take against them. Then I saw Natsume hole up on top of a tree. I sneaked up and surprised him. But our stealth was short lived. On the other side of the tree I could hear Hotaru and Ruka, wondering what I was up to the past week.

"_As much as I hate to ask _you _for anything- Do you have any idea what's wrong with Mikan recently._ _She's been acting_ weird, _more so than usual.",Hotaru asked._

_"Really? I don't know anything about it."_

Their love for me was making them cry their eyes out. Bless their souls.

Natsume eyed both the sides. 'I have a plan' ,he said ,'I'm going to create a distraction. You cover for me'. I nodded. 'Formation!', he screamed at his team. Me. We jumped from our secret base and everyone was frozen for a second. Natsume kind of burnt a small part of the tent to lure Hotaru, Ruka and most of the crowd away. (I'll pay for the damages Grandpa, Honest!). It was Kiyoshi and me now.

The moment had arrived.

Payback is a bitch.

I had trained extensively for this incident to happen. She aimed for my throat but I blocked her and landed a punch on her stomach. Sadly, it wasn't a big hit. We circled each other for a few seconds. Her second kick did manage to bruise my hip. Don't worry it wasn't so bad. Power alice or no I nullified it.

I blocked many punches she threw at me. It took me a while to land another hit at her stomach. It was getting bloody now.

She screamed stuff at me. I ignored it.

The match was turning against me. Kiyoshi was clutching my hair and I was flat on the ground and she hovering above. We must have attracted too much attention because I could hear an audience gather, my line of vision was restricted to the mass of shoes that were accumulating.

'Is that Mikan?' I heard Sumire's loud voice. This was followed by her stupid, seaweed brother's annoying laugh. I was officially pissed.

A line of fire separated us from the crowd. The crowd gasped and fell back but still peeped to watch the fight. I pushed Kiyoshi back with all the force I could muster. I kicked her forcefully in the ribs, my mind reeling with all the horrible stuff she had done to Akane and Gunna. Kiyoshi slipped and fell to the ground. I wanted to fight more but I figured if I hurt her more then I'd be nothing more than a low life, just like how Kiyoshi had lived.

I focused my energy and sent a small shot of my alice into Kiyoshi so that her powers would be nullified for an hour or so. I was so relieved at this point.

"If you have such a weak attitude, you'll never survive in this academy, Sakura", Kiyoshi forced herself to speak, the pain of her broken ribs showing on her face, "Just like your pitiful mother", she spat out.

I was numb for a moment. There was so much of rage that overcame me, so much I wanted to lash out, but for the most part I wanted to scream and bawl. The tears were waiting to come out but I suppressed them. "This is the alice world", I said, "Don't underestimate me." I walked off before Kiyoshi could retort back.

I was just getting into the mood of relishing my victory when Natsume tapped me and shouted that the flames wouldn't last forever and that we had to hide from the prying crowd. I took charge obviously. He followed me to bear's house. We spent the night there.

UUrrrggh. Not that way. Nuh uh.

Only till dinner.

Seriously.

Are you proud of me Grandpa?

Well, you shouldn't be. I did nothing on my own. I'm not that stupid that I don't realize that Natsume did everything for me. I didn't see Kiyoshi's friends at all after that so Natsume must have 'taken care of it.' He made sure that I was the one to fight Kiyoshi.

He didn't ask anything in return.

You taught me to return kindness. I thought for hours and realized I didn't know Natsume well enough to give him a nice thoughtful gift in return.

I finally ended up giving him a dragon tattoo I found while I was walking through Central Town. Dragons breathe out fire. Natsume's alice is fire. It makes perfect sense. Plus it was cheap. I'm a one-star. It makes even more sense.

He said 'Yuck. Get it out of my sight.' But I caught him eyeing it before he turned. Not to mention I overheard a few of his dojo members say they saw a cool tattoo on Natsume's shirt. I'm going to brag till his ears bleed.

OH MY GOD, is that the time? It's getting late. Gotto go Grandpa. By the way, Ruka invited me for lunch tomorrow. Soo sweet of him. I hope I get to meet Natsume there.

Loving tomorrow,

Love,

Mikan)

* * *

><p>Thanks for reading this one-shot. R&amp;R :D<p>

- get lost reality


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